We need your help. We need to find a horse property before May in the Evergreen area that can accommodate the animals of the ResqRanch, and allow us to have more volunteers and classes. We also have a volunteer update on our ResqRanch.org website. It will also be a safe haul-in space for our large animal patients, such as a safe, warm place for pregnant animals to have their babies in winter. The only thing holding us back is having the perfect location, so if you know of an available property that has the water and can accommodate 10 or more large animals, please contact DrQ at Aspen Park Vet hospital 303-838-3771 right away, thank you!
The last issue I mentioned was that I just returned from the largest veterinary conference in North America, with over 800 hours of available continuing education classes. It is always a wonderful experience, although a bit overwhelming at times trying to figure out what classes to attend since one can’t do them all! I returned and shared with my staff many of the new innovations, procedures, and products, so we could discuss as a team and decide what, if any, was important to add to our services. We are continually improving to serve you better!
I am excited to share that we are in the process of obtaining a Digitherm medical-grade digital camera! This amazing device will be able to help us determine areas of pain in the body without exposure to excess radiation like an x-ray. Also, the camera will allow us to show clients the before and after images of inflammation in the body after treatment and can even help identify if tumors are cancerous or not just by taking a thermal heat image of them! I am so excited to share that we are the only veterinary hospital in the area to have this piece of valuable equipment, which will be able to help us so much better figure out areas of pain, and improvements in progress, with a harmless digital heat mapping picture.
Also now available is something called a ‘liquid biopsy,” which is a simple blood test that looks at DNA markers for cancer anywhere in the body. The technology is advanced and quite accurate, making a good screening choice for even young animals to ensure problems can be caught early.
Also very exciting is the ability to know about intestinal health gut biome testing for animals with any kind of chronic disease. As you may or may not know, 80% of an animal’s immune system is lining the intestinal tract, so having good gut health is critical to having a strong immune system. So if your pet has chronic diarrhea, allergies, or any other sort of recurrent health condition, ask about gut biome testing. We have many ways to treat animals if the test shows the good bacteria in the intestines needed for maximum digestion of food and nutrients is not optimal. You are what you eat!
Probably the most interesting lecture I attended was explaining the latest about COVID 19 in people and pets. There is a test available, and at least 15 pets in Colorado have been verified to carry the virus. This is likely a very low number since regular vet offices like ours are not allowed to routinely test animals. You have to have permission from the State Vet’s office and make a special request, to have an animal tested, since right now, with the ongoing global pandemic, government officials are not allowing any covid testing to occur which might delay, or delay, a human test. So, for now, the test is not readily available. Also, there is a very good vaccine that has been developed and administered to over 11,000 animals (mostly in zoos) with ZERO adverse side effects. That is incredible! However, the vaccine is only available with special permission right now and is not available for pets. Hopefully, that will no longer be the case in a year or two. Interestingly, one researcher sampled a herd of deer in rural Iowa and found 83% of the animals tested positive! We now know animals can readily get the disease, and in fact, we are sure we have seen several cases of it, especially in indoor house cats that suddenly became sick with respiratory disease, but no exposure to any other animals except their humans who tested positive. We know cats are a little more susceptible, but any animal can get it and pass it to people, like ferrets, guinea pigs, and dogs. Also, an animal can get it, give it to people, and then get it again or pass it on to other animals. So if you or someone in your family tests positive for COVID 19, minimize your contact with them while you’re sick. And if your animal gets sick with it, keep in mind what we know is they can shed viruses for up to 12 days. Pretty scary stuff, but at least most animals recover, and luckily we have lots of different ways to boost the immune system with supplements and herbs to help animals get over any infections faster.
If you have questions about any of these topics or have an animal training video request, please be sure to send us an email at [email protected]. Thanks so much, as always, for reading. God bless, and until next time, take good care! DrQ, Dr. Tam, Dr. Hunt, and the crew of Aspen Park Vet and the ResqRanch.